Challenge Run: No Starter Tools

[Snowy Sprout]

This written Let's Play challenge is to put away your four starter tools and then see how far you can progress your game in 100 days.

- You can use fishing pole, or golden scythe, or any other weapon/tool you get without your starting tools.

Please feel free to comment!

[Snowy Sprout]

Day One:

My first job is to get rid of my tools. So I went to a far corner of my farm and chopped just enough tree tops to build a chest, to store them over there where I can forget about them. I left the stumps so the trees would continue to sprout seeds in the area, to cause more chaos. Any sap or extra anything got thrown in the trash.

So, naked of hand, I went to visit my new chicks (because this is Meadowlands Farm). Immediately I can see how irritating it's going to be to live with all the debris cluttering the pasture in front of their coop. I hope someday I can clear that a bit.

The second thing I notice is that the north and south exits of my farm are blocked. That means taking the long way around every single time, until I can unblock them. Yikes!

There's not much to do on Day One other than meet people, collect forage, pick spring onions, and check trash cans. Although, finding anything in a trash can is problematic, because how can I put it down anywhere with no axe to build a chest? The first $500 I spawned in with is just enough cash to buy wood from Robin for a chest. I'm not worried about losing the money. Tomorrow I will start my fishing empire!

[Snowy Sprout]

Day Two:

- Pet chickens (assume this happens daily now)
- Got fishing pole and began fishing at beach
- Met Elliot to complete "meet people" quest
- Opened 3 frozen geodes at blacksmith
- Turned in 2 items to Museum, for reward
- Returned to beach to continue fishing till 4:50 to maximize cash from Willy when I sold the fish
- Moved to Mountain Lake to continue fishing
- Met Robin at her desk at exactly 7:50pm, so I could buy more wood for a chest even though it's Tuesday.
- Moved house, sell bin, and pet bowl slightly, for my convenience.
- Continued fishing until 2am. Lost only 14 gold for this stunt, but no energy loss since I leveled up fishing today.

[Snowy Sprout]

Day Three: Rainy Wednesday

- Sold fish, bought fiberglass rod and bait.
- Fished on pier, sold fish to Willy till closing
- Fished at river till midnight. Only caught one catfish.
- Reached Fishing Level 4
- sold excess fish in sell bin.

[Snowy Sprout]

Day Four:

* $1724 in wallet at daybreak.
- fishing at pier to get enough cash for backpack and another chest.
- Bought backpack, and wood for another chest.
- Fished in mountain lake the rest of the day.
- Sold fish in bin overnight. Made like 3300.
- Reached Fishing Level 6.

[Snowy Sprout]

Day Five: Goals

1. Open Community Center
2. Turn in Spring Forage bundle if possible
3. Continue fishing for cash, to get backpack upgrade.
4. Check Travelling Cart for bombs or something good.

[Snowy Sprout]

Day Five: Actual

- Got a dog. Named her Della.
- Got CC opened and saw plaque.
- Forgot that you cannot turn in forage until after meeting the Wizard. So that'll be tomorrow.
- Nothing impressive at travelling cart. Got a Rare Seed.
- Was gonna buy two more chickens from Marnie, but worried that they'd eat all the grass. I can afford to buy hay, and in fact the eggs will pay for hay, but if the grass is all gone the debris might clog and block the coop. So I'm sticking with two chickens for now.
- Bought two Fried Eel from Gus for the luck bonus. (It's nice having money!)
- Opened two frozen geodes.
- Turned in a mineral to museum.
- Bought a few recipes from Robin, and enough wood for two chests.
- Got a rusty sword. (Yay! now I can clear weeds!)
- Set one chest beside elevator.
- Fished all day, because now I'm broke.

[Snowy Sprout]

Day Six:
- Fished all day at ocean.
- Reached level 1 Farming and level 7 Fishing.

Day Seven:
- Met Wizard.
- Bought Rare Seed.
- Bought 300 bait
- Cracked geodes and turned in Museum stuff. Ironically happy to get stone from geodes, because otherwise I'd have to buy it right now.
- Got 9 cauliflower seeds reward, which I have no way to plant.
- Turned in Spring Forage bundle.
- Bought workbench, some stone and wood from Robin.
- Fishing all day at Mountain lake because broke again.
- Reached Fishing Level 8
- Earned 2100 from today's fish, not counting iridium chubs (which are saved for food).

[Snowy Sprout]

Day Eight:
- Fished all day at Mountain Lake. It feels good to get straight to fishing, and know I'll have a good earnings day. Feels kind of weird to go by way of town though, because normally I would take the north road because it's shorter. But at least I get to check the jobs board and a couple trash cans on the way.
- Earned 5000 from today's fish. Saved some largemouth bass to make into bait soon.

The plan is to buy wood to fix the beach bridge, collect sea urchin and coral to make bait maker, and then profit by fishing specifically for largemouth bass.

Also I have to buy some copper to make a furnace. And buy some iron to smelt into the bars I'll need for the bait maker. Lots of buying.

[Snowy Sprout]

Day Nine:
- Got the wood just as Robin was leaving her house to go to aerobics.
- Got the iron and copper needed.
- Made a furnace, and smelting bars as I fish at Mountain Lake.
- Earned about 2800
- Reached Fishing Level 9

[Snowy Sprout]

Day 10:
- Chose Bat Cave from Demetrius.
- Repaired beach bridge. Found one coral. (need 3 coral, one sea urchin)
- Fished at beach all day

Day 11: Bookseller in town
- Bought Mining Monthly, which gives Mining Level 1. Now I can craft cherry bombs!
- It's raining, so I fished the river all day.

Day 12:
- Found 2 coral on beach.
- Reached Forage Level 2 from picking daffodils
- Bought copper from Clint. (Already had coal.)
- Made 11 cherry bombs.
- Fished all day at mountain lake, because today is a mid luck day and I want to mine on a good luck day.
- Found a Neptune's Glaive (See?! I TOLD you I always find one!)
- Reached Fishing Level 10, and chose Angler profession for the 50% more value per fish.

[Snowy Sprout]

Day 13: Egg Festival!
- Bought 30 strawberry seeds, in anticipation of having a greenhouse someday
- Whupped everyone's butt at the Egg Hunt and got m'self a spiffy new hat!

Day 14:
- Realized that now I have bombs I can clear debris on farm!
- Opened all the exits, and cleared path to the Bat Cave
- Bought a new chicken from Marnie
- Picked spring onions and got Robin's axe
- Bought seeds from Pierre, to plant in greenhouse someday
- Turned in the axe
- Fished all day from 5:30 to Midnight

I'm realizing the world is very dark. Normally by this stage I'd have chopped lots of trees, and have a ton of sap to make fertilizer and torches. But I haven't felled a single tree yet, and I have no sap at all. So no torches. So I can't put them behind every bush as I usually do, to make the world pretty.

The next four days are Salmonberry Season, so I'll be collecting those as much as possible because they make good gifts for so many people. Then it will be back to solid fishing for the remainder of Spring, to begin to buy Joja Community Upgrades.

[nanami]

you end up getting lots of torches from recycling with trash from crab pots

[Snowy Sprout]

Yes! I'm looking forward to that, Nanami! I should raise the priority of making a recycling machine.

Ironically, I'd need to make an effort to catch trash to feed it, since my fishing level means I virtually never see trash anymore. But I could fish in a small farm ponds to get some efficiently. That's how I usually get trash for LInus' challenge. That's a really good suggestion for what I can do in game after collecting salmonberries this week!

[Snowy Sprout]

Day 15: Salmonberry Season starts
- It was raining, so I was able to get a fourth chicken today!
- Collected salmonberries all day, but only got like 20.
- Found a mahogany seed from killing a slime in the secret woods!
- Cleared a little farm debris to plant mahogany seed.
- Made recycling machine.

Day 16:
- Collecting salmonberries going north. Gave some to Linus, Robin, Demetrius.
- Set recycling machine by my fishing spot near the Mine.
- Continuing to collect salmonberries in town, I realize by about Pam's house that it's raining again and I really should be fishing for catfish right now.
- Fished in front of Pam's house from 2:30pm to midnight.
- Caught a glow ring! Yay! Also caught a "Bait and Bobber" fishing xp book. Don't need it, so I'll save it for when I get Mastery.
- Made 7000 from the fish today

Day 17:
- Found a rainbow by the Hat Mouse shack!
- Found the sea urchin I needed for the Bait Maker!
- Bought a beer to give to Pam for her birthday
- Bought a calamari to give to Pierre for his birthday
- Reached level 3 Foraging

Day 18: Pam's Birthday, Salmonberry season ends
- All my chickens are grown up and laying eggs!
- Gave Pam her beer for breakfast.
- Had a quest for earth crystal for Emily, and got a quest for green slime for Lewis, and it was a Best Luck today, so went straight to open the mine.
It took me three cherry bombs to make it to level 5, because on Best Luck days often you get a free ladder or one that comes after killing a mob.
One of the old lessons I have to re-learn is the patience to reload an elevator floor over and over until you get a free ladder, and to abandon any other floor if a ladder won't show up easily. It's heartbreaking right before an elevator floor, but this time I had a deadline to catch Emily at the bar before midnight.
- Reached Farming 2, Mining 2, and Combat 1

[Snowy Sprout]

Day 19:
- Got quest to give Sebastian a Smallmouth Bass, and did that.
- Turned in quest to Lewis, about killing slimes
- Made Bait Maker and used it to get more Largemouth Bass and Bullheads.

Day 20: Shane's Birthday
- Totally forgot that it is Shane's Birthday. Didn't take the time to find him at all.
- Fished all day with new bait machine. Made over $9000.

I blame the fact that I felt sleepy while playing. I need a nap.